The early and late benign occipital epilepsies of childhood (BOEC) are described as two discrete electro-clinical syndromes, eponymously known as Panayiotopoulos and Gastaut syndromes. Our aim was to explore the clinical features, classification and clinical genetics of these syndromes using twin and multiplex family studies to determine whether they are indeed distinct. Sixteen probands includ...

The aim of this study is to compare ILAE classification (1989) and Panayiotopoulos' criteria (1997) for absence epilepsies. We studied 455 typical absences (ILAE, 1981) by video-EEG in 43 patients with normal neurological and neuroradiological examinations and interictal EEG with spike-wave complexes higher than 2.5Hz. Syndromic diagnosis was possible in 60.5% and 67.4% of the patients using IL...

BACKGROUND The evidence base for management of childhood epilepsy is poor, especially for the most common specific syndromes such as rolandic epilepsy (RE) and Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS). Considerable international variation in management and controversy about non-treatment indicate the need for high quality randomised controlled trials (RCT). The aim of this study is, therefore, to describe...